A. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to a panel covering for a wall or other relatively flat surface. The panel covering may be fabricated from wood or other decoratively suitable material for application onto a surface.
B. Description of Related Art
Many individuals enjoy the aesthetic look of wood paneling within interior or exterior spaces of residential, commercial and other building structures. Installing a wood paneled wall, however, can be an expensive and labor intensive project. Moreover, once installed, the paneled wall essentially becomes a permanent fixture of the building structure. As such, should the paneled wall one day no longer be desired, a further expensive and labor intensive project would be required to remove the wood paneling to return the wall to its previous state. In some cases, this may involve a complete renovation requiring removal of the previous wall containing the wood paneling and installation of a new wall surface.
One method for installing wood paneling to walls is through the application of an adhesive to the wall and to the back side of the paneling. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,728 discloses the use of pressure sensitive adhesive strips which may be used to install wood millwork such as wood trim molding around door openings. The pressure sensitive adhesive bonded to the planar underside of the molding. To activate the pressure sensitive adhesive, a protective film is removed to expose the adhesive surface. The back side of the molding is then applied to both the wall and the door jamb elements for installation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,558 discloses forming a sheet of wood veneer comprising a composite of individual flitches joined together by an adhesive. The sheet of veneer is then joined to a substrate by an adhesive. The substrate may consist of wood, plywood, particle board, hard board, paper, plastic sheet, cement board, ceramic board, metallic board, etc. The adhesive preferably consists of a thermoplastic resin that is applied through a hot gluing process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,808 discloses a roll of wallcovering having a wood grain design which is applied to a wall over a previously applied adhesive. In an alternative embodiment, the wallcovering strips may be formed with an adhesive on the back side for application onto a wall. The wallcovering itself may be a single ply or a plurality of laminated plies and may consist of a relatively thick paperboard of about 0.02 inch thickness and a decorative veneer play of about 0.0001 inch. U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,079 discloses wooden tiles containing an adhesive backing which may adhered to a floor or onto a wall or ceiling. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0104485 discloses a self-adhesive for a wood board (e.g., plywood, particle boards and fiber boards). The adhesive is formed of a polyolefin film containing reactive groups which interact with —OH groups within the wood to form a self-adhesive. The self-adhesive material may be applied to the wood as a coating or as a glue-line material to join veneers to the wood board. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0186029 discloses a wall panel system that includes of a series of interlocking wall panels comprised of wood. The panels contain a pressure adherent backing or adhesive that readily bonds to wood and to a variety of surfaces such as conventional wall board or gypsum. A backing sheet may cover the adhesive and be removed prior to application of the panel system onto a wall.
The use of an adhesive to install a paneling system onto a wall, however, has several disadvantages. First, the adhesive provides a permanent means of fixing the paneling system to the wall. As such, removal of the paneling system from the wall may be extremely difficult if not, impossible as it would ultimately result in damaging the substrate or wall requiring removal and replacement of the entire substrate or wall. This can result in an extremely expensive and labor intensive endeavor that individuals may not be willing to do or even able to afford. In such situations, individuals would likely have very little choice but to remain with a wall paneling that they are not happy with. Second, traditional wood paneling for walls require a significant amount of labor and materials to make. This is especially the case if the paneling system must be customized for a specific wall. Moreover, installation of traditional wood paneling alone involves the labor intensive process of locating studs and nailing of the paneling system to the wall. In addition, the costs of traditional wood paneling for walls can be very expensive given the materials involved and the amount of customization desired. Consequently, wood paneled walls are often financially out reach for many consumers.
What is needed is a wood paneling system that solves the problems mentioned above including a system which can be easily applied and removed from a substrate or wall with a minimal amount of labor and without damaging the underlying substrate or wall and a paneling system which is relatively inexpensive to purchase.